WDBC E-NEWS – DECEMBER 18, 2018

WDBC ELECTS 2019 OFFICERS

At its 2018 Annual meeting, the Water Design-Build Council members unanimously elected the following officers (pictured) to lead the organization in 2019: Michael Watson (Stantec) - 2^nd Vice President/Secretary; William Hixon (Arcadis) - 3^rd Vice President/Advisor Liaison; Bryan Bedell (Haskell) - President; Stephen Gates (Brown and Caldwell) - Past President; Lawrence Johnson (HDR) - 1^st Vice President/Treasurer.

WDBC WELCOMES A NEW ADVISOR MEMBER

James Horton, Vice President, Process Group, will be representing Aqua-Aerobic on the WDBC Advisor Board. Since 1996, James has worked in domestic and international wastewater engineering, including positions with a consulting engineer and specialty wastewater contractor. James’ previous positions at Aqua-Aerobic Systems have included Application Engineer, Project Application Engineer, Senior Application Engineer, International Business Manager, and Product Manager-Biological Processes and Membranes.

With a B.S. in chemical/environmental engineering from the University of Queensland, Australia, and a M.S. in civil engineering from the Queensland University of Technology, James has skills in design, application, and technical support for biological and filtration products. He is an experienced technical presenter to both clients and engineers.

Joining James as the alternate on the WDBC Advisor Board is Mark Hughes, PE, Filtration Project Manager. Mark holds a B.S. in civil engineering from the University of Iowa and a M.S. in environmental and water resources engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. He has extensive experience in the design, application, and technical support for biological and filtration systems and his current focus is on all aspects of cloth media filtration worldwide. Mark has spoken at numerous local, state, and national wastewater conferences on topics of biological treatment, reuse, primary filtration, wet weather filtration, and phosphorus removal. Mark has been in the wastewater industry since 2008.

BOARD ADOPTS BYLAW CHANGES ON MEMBERSHIP

At its annual meeting, the WDBC Board of Directors unanimously adopted key strategic amendments to its bylaws, changing the regular membership criteria to include practitioner firms in the water industry with self-performance construction capabilities. Other notable amendments include:

• Added a 3^rd Vice President/Advisor Liaison
• Added an advisor representative with voting privileges to the board 
• Code of Conduct for members, advisors, and staff
• Revised Nominations and Succession Policy
• Updated 2019 regular and advisor member application forms

Field Trips Aren't Just for Kids

San Jose Water Company (SJW) recently completed their first progressive design-build project and largest capital improvement project ever: a $50 million upgrade to the Montevina Water Treatment Plant in Los Gatos, California. The project was recently recognized by the American Society of Civil Engineers San Francisco Section as the 2018 Environmental Engineering Project of the Year. During his acceptance speech at the awards banquet, Andrew Gere, President and Chief Operating Officer of SJW, said, “The success of the project was founded upon partnering developed by the owner and the design-builder.”

Flashback four and a half years to March 20, 2014, when San Jose Water and HDR, their newly selected design-builder, conducted their first partnering workshop. At that workshop they jointly developed a partnering charter that included a common set of goals and objectives for the design-build project and a mission statement of “collaborate, innovate, achieve.” 

Member Companies

The Water Design-Build Council stands ready to contribute its expertise, resources, innovation and enthusiasm to the challenge of strengthening our water and wastewater infrastructure.

Allied Companies